Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-09-23
THE RUM POWER,
Experience Proves that Absolute Pro.
hibition Is the Only Remedy
for the Drink Evil,
The Friends Of the Liquor Traffic Dare
Not Allow Fair Trial Of
Prohibition.
[From the Toledo Blade !

From the Toledo Blade.l
We notice an effort being made on the
part OF many of the friends of tho rum
power In different sections of the country
o weaken the efforts Of Prohibitionists.
and divide their forces, by bringing up
again the matter of fighting drunkenness,
N place OF fighting the drunkard- makers.
It IS plain that this effort is intended simply
to divert portion Of the attack upon The
saloon into other channels, and thus weaken
me force OF the assault. The first organ
!zed efforts made against rum were spent
IN trying to save men who had already BE-
come the victims of drink, and in prevent
ing others from becoming the prev Of tte
rum devil. Thousands upon thousands of
men, young and old, signed the pledge.
Various temperance organizations wers
formed whose membership involved total
abstinence from ell intoxicants; and the
churches were brought into line in the
effort to mold public opinion in favor Of
temperance. To the sanguine
leaders, it seemed entirely possible to work
a moral revolution within the life of one
generation and redeem the land from the
curse of drink. The saloon was to be
abolished by preventing it from having
any customers.
Nearly two generations have passed since
this effort began, and the army of drunk
ards is much greater than it was then. The
saloon has grown in power and influence,
and the liquor interest has become one Of
the largest in the country. Like the tabled
upas tree, the rum power has spread over
the land, laying it's clutches upon high
and low, and whitening and destroying all
within its deadly influence. The trouble
was. that taking the pledge would not re-
deem drunkard, nor would it prevent
man from becoming one. A man once
having fastened upon him the awful drink
thirst, cannot be controlled by word nor
by written pledge. Such man would
violate it, nay, he would violate the most
sacred oath taken before high heaven, in
order to satisfy his depraved craving. He
will drink despite all pledges, despite the
tears and prayers of friends, parents, wife,
OF children, whose hearts he is breaking,
whose lives he is blasting by his intemper-
ance. And it was shown, too, that while
the many temperance organizations -four
ished in respect to members, yet they were
making no great Roadway against the Rum
habit. Where there was one who enrolled
himself among their membership, there
were ninety and nine who would not be
brought within the fold. 1t became plain
that this plan of dealing with the Rum evil
was Intellectual. So long as Rum could be
obtained men would drink.
There was but one other thing to do,
namely, to crush the traffic. If the weak
ness of human nature and the natural
leaning of humanity toward this vice were
so strong that it was impossible to control
them throug h simple means, the power Of
the law must be invoked and the arm of the
state stretched forth to check an evil that is
sapping the blood of the nation. Then
began an effort to obtain the prohibition of
the manufacture and sale of rum in all its
forms. The plan was put upon trial and
is upon trial to-day. What are the results,
so far as we have gone?
The first great difficulty has been to OBJ
tain fair trial of the plan. The rum
power knew that prohibition meant its own
downfall. Every effort was put forth, every
nerve was strained, to prevent an enact
ment of prohibitory legislation. In some
cases this was successful for the time
being. The enactment of such laws has
been defeated in some of the States, but
the agitation still goes on. When fighting
for great moral reform defeat does not
paralyze effort, but only impels to still
harder work to compass the desired end.
And in the States in which those laws have
DooA eAoSooo eAo o@uS6Ao Aao OeoA "a uue
firing one ever since to nullify the statute
by its wholesale violation. To this there
are two parties-the rum-sellers them
selves and the men who are already VIC
Tins to the rum thirst. It may be set down
as maxim that where a man has once
become q slave to the drink habit he will
crafty that accursed appetite if such
qualification be at all possible. No diff.
Guilty daunts him, no obstacle stops him.
And when such men are met more than
halfway by the determined efforts of
the rum power to keep up the sale
of the different brands of body-rot at
whatever risk, it readily becomes plain that
the enforcement Of these laws is q most
difficult task.
The fact is, the Rum Power dare not al
low fair trial of Prohibition. It fights it
to the bitter end. 1t knows, in any locality
from which the curse of the saloon has
been removed for sufficient length of time
to thoroughly test the matter, that the peo-
pie will never return to it. The only hope
of the Rum Power in this country lies in
making the people believe that Prohibition
is farce and the law dead letter upon
the statute books. If in any state there
can be strict observance of the law for
one full year, there will never be any
further opposition to it to amount to any
thing. What do we find in those States
which already have Prohibition en-
actments covering the entire State, or Pro-
hibition by local option governing por-
ton of the counties? That the results have
been for good, and for good only: The
elementary schools for drunkards-the
saloons-are crushed out; the education of
boys in the drink habit is stopped; the
r,oon1a ara mora prOsnerous. the money